Tokyo to Delhi in thirty minutes

Elon Musk plans to replace his current rocket fleet with a next-generation spacecraft

Getting anywhere on the planet in under an hour — was one of the more intriguing possibilities Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, raised as he unveiled plans for a new rocket.

Mr Musk unveiled his ambitious plans on Friday to send cargo ships to Mars in five years and use rockets to carry people between Earth’s major cities in under half-an-hour. A trip from Bangkok to Dubai would take 27 minutes, and from Tokyo to Delhi in 30 minutes, according to his calculations.

The founder of SpaceX said a planned interplanetary transport system, codenamed BFR (Big Fu***** Rocket), would be downsized so it could carry out a range of tasks that would then pay for future Mars missions. “The most important thing... is that I think we have figured out how to pay for (BFR),” Mr Musk told a packed auditorium at a global gathering of space experts in Adelaide.

“Which is to have a smaller vehicle, it’s still pretty big, but one that can... do everything that’s needed in the greater Earth orbit activity.”

He said his firm had starting building the system, with the construction of the first ship to start in six to nine months.

“I feel fairly confident that we can complete the ship and launch in about five years,” he added.

At least two cargo ships would land on the Red Planet in 2022, with the key mission of finding the best source of water — currently mooted as a way to power rockets, he said.

The rockets would place power, mining and life-support infrastructure on Mars to support future missions, with four ships set to take people, equipment and supplies to the planet in 2024.